Flail-type rotors are already well-known in the art. Those prior art flail-type cutters include a mobile ground vehicle which supports and transports a rotating drum on a horizontal axis for movement over the grass or other vegetation to be cut. The drum has flails articularly mounted thereon for engaging the vegetation and cutting same when the drum is rotated.
Commonly, the prior art flail-type cutters have chain links for attaching the cutter to the rotating drum, and the links are spaced around and along the drum to be staggered such that upon rotation, different flails engage different swathes of vegetation. As mentioned, the prior art flails commonly use a plurality of chain links or the like for attaching the flail to the drum. Further, the aforesaid attachment is such that the entire assembly is not made optimumly strong, and the drum is exposed to damage by the rotating flail, or other debris, and also the momentum of the flail can tend to damage the rotor itself.
Accordingly, the objects of this invention are to improve upon the aforesaid prior art and to do so with an assembly of a rotating drum with flails spaced therearound such that the assembly is not overly subjected to damage and is not self-destructive, and, which in fact is structurally reinforced by the members which are assembled in the final machine. In that assembly, there is only a minimum of parts which achieve the required structural strength and which produce full and complete swath cutting in one pass over the ground.
In the final assembly of the several parts constituting the flail rotor, the arrangement is such that there is an optimum structural strength in the rotor tube by increasing its section modulus. In that manner, the tube can be of a larger diameter but actually of a thinner wall material, and it can therefore greatly reduce the weight otherwise required such as in the prior art rotors.
Still further, the present invention provides a flail-type assembly wherein the individual flails can be readily removed and replaced, and they can also be reversed to present a different cutting edge, all without requiring that the flails be sharpened each time they are removed, but, instead, they can simply be reversed in their mounting. Further, the mounting of the cutter itself as a part of the flail members is such that the cutter can be individually removed from the rest of the flail although the cutters are completely secure as a part of the flail for the operation of the rotation of the drum in the vegetation cutting procedure.
In summary, the flail assembly of this invention is arranged so that the assembly is light in weight and has only a minimum number of parts but is completely sturdy and durable for cutting vegetation, and the cutters themselves can be readily reversed for double cutting edge presentation and for complete replacement of a cutter, as desired.